ancho-bowl-before
All the ingredients for ancho chili and sweet potato bowls.
When the meal kit craze hit it was only a matter of time before the niche versions started popping up to join the party. For those seeking a boost with weekday dinners by way of, easy, healthy, organic meal kits that can accommodate designer diet plans, Green Chef has officially entered the conversation.
Green Chefoperates like most other meal kit services, sending preportioned ingredients, ready to be made into an easy lunch or dinner, only with a strong emphasis on quality, organic produce, meats and other ingredients where possible. You might say that organic food is Green Chef’s key selling point and for a lot of people trying to eat better, eating organic is an easy way to filter out a lot of not-so-healthy foods.
Green Chef also bills itself as one of the best meal kit services for keeping to a keto diet, offering meal delivery plans tailored towards that low-carb lifestyle and hoping to attract the burgeoning keto, paleo and fitness crowds. The popular meal kit company is also after the vegetarian set with one of the most robust plant-based meal kit programs in the ever-growing category.
7.6
Green Chef
See at Green Chef
LIKE
Organic ingredients and healthy recipes
Easy to prepare
Tasty sauces
DON’T LIKE
Some recipes were bland and uninspired
Expensive for what it is
Not able to choose meals from other plans
Pricing is odd
But with a crowded field of healthy meal kit services such as Sunbasket, which also touts some organic meal kit credentials, and vegan meal kit-specialist Purple Carrot, Green Chef has to do a little more than just keep things healthy and organic — there’s also taste and some other factors to consider. I wanted to see for myself how Green Chef grub held up and so I took the subscription service for a test drive over the course of a few weeks to bring you an honest-to-goodness and completely organic (get it?) review of Green Chef.
green-chef-box
Green Chef claims to be the most sustainable meal kit company.
CNET / David Watsky
How Green Chef works
Green Chef offers three main meal kit plans: Plant-Powered, Balanced Living and Carb Easy (which is keto and paleo-friendly). Where most companies keep the price per serving the same no matter which plan you choose, Green Chef has different pricing for the three plans (which, honestly, I found a bit strange) but the difference is not more than a dollar here and there. After choosing one, you then choose how many meals per week (two, three or four) and how many servings per meal (two, four or six).
After plugging in your payment info, you’ll select meals from your plan and delivery date for the following week. Each week you’ll select your meal and a box arrives on the doorstep on the day of your choosing in insulated packaging. Green Chef ships to nearly every US zip code except for Alaska, Hawaii and some parts of Louisiana. Though it wasn’t an issue for me, a critique I found in other Green Chef reviews was shipping delays — albeit usually no more than a day or two.
Green Chef pricing at a glance
Meal Plan Price per serving
Plant-Powerd $10-$12
Balanced Living $12
Keto + Paleo $13
What are Green Chef
Green Chef meals are healthy. They contain lots of organic vegetables and lean meats with lighter sauces and seasonings. There is the scattered “cheat meal” like truffle linguine with chicken and mushrooms or Salisbury steak and potatoes, but most of the dishes have high nutritional value with no rich cream sauces or excess empty carbs. There’s also a good variety of fish and seafood options in the Balanced and Paleo plans including salmon, tilapia and shrimp recipes.
Green Chef flavors will be familiar to most American eaters and I’d say the company plays it safer than rivals such as Sunbasket or Blue Apron — perhaps to its detriment. While many of the meals looked tasty to me, some also sounded strange or incoherent, like kidney bean patties with broccoli or Cajun fried cheese. I noticed a good deal of heat and Latin flavors in these meal kits, such as chimichurri, lime, peppers and Mexican spice.
No matter which meal plan you choose, you’ll have about nine menu options per week. One thing to note is that you’re limited to the meals within your plan — so if you choose plant-powered, you’re getting plant-powered. That said, there are vegetarian recipe options within both the keto and balanced plans so you’re not forced to choose only meat recipes each week. (Other meal kit companies allow you to toggle about and pluck meals from the other plans, usually without a charge.)